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Helmet fragment
Greek
Archaic Period
680–620 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Height: 25 cm (9 13/16 in.); diameter: 25 cm (9 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution
Accession Number01.7479
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsWarfare, hunting, fishing – Armor
Catalogue Raisonné
Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Bronzes (MFA), no. 583; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 126 (additional published references).
DescriptionThis is a fragment of a helmet of the Corinthian type, which typically covers the head and neck fully, has flexible cheek guards, and has two eye openings on either side of a long nose guard. There are small holes (for the attcahment of a lost leather lining) around the edge, and two additional holes on the side.
This helmet was dedicated to Zeus, as evidenced by the inscription below the right eye opening: The inscription is incised, retrograde (upside down and backwards), and is in the Laconian alphabet (Jeffery): TO DIOS OLUMPIO Translation: "of Olympian Zeus." The inscription seems to date to 550-525 BC, suggesting that the helmet was not dedicated until 100 years after it was produced.
The lower part of the right cheekpiece and almost all of the right eyehole are preserved. Fractures in the area of the inscription indicate that some of the damage occured after dedication, perhaps during a periodic removal and burial of votives at the sanctuary.
This helmet was dedicated to Zeus, as evidenced by the inscription below the right eye opening: The inscription is incised, retrograde (upside down and backwards), and is in the Laconian alphabet (Jeffery): TO DIOS OLUMPIO Translation: "of Olympian Zeus." The inscription seems to date to 550-525 BC, suggesting that the helmet was not dedicated until 100 years after it was produced.
The lower part of the right cheekpiece and almost all of the right eyehole are preserved. Fractures in the area of the inscription indicate that some of the damage occured after dedication, perhaps during a periodic removal and burial of votives at the sanctuary.
Inscriptions"Of Olympian Zeus" (on side)
ΤΟDΙΟΣΟΛΥΝΠΙΟ
in retrograde
Laconian alphabet
ΤΟDΙΟΣΟΛΥΝΠΙΟ
in retrograde
Laconian alphabet
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to Warren's records: from Rhousopoulos: from Olympia); purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren, December 1901